Courting Death and Life
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, 12 stories LJ challenge, Seto x Isis/Isis x Seto, Trustshipping] The only way to live life is to court death. Kaiba manages to do both while taking a phone call during his vacation.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh  
**Title:** Courting Death and Life  
**Romance:** Seto x Isis  
**Word Count:** 2,858  
**Genre:** Romance||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 12_stories: prompt #6: truth  
**Summary:** The only way to live life is to court death. Kaiba manages to do both while taking a phone call during his vacation.

* * *

Kaiba Seto didn't like hot chocolate, no matter how traditional it was to sip a cup while one sat by a roaring fire in a ski resort. Coffee was his drink of choice, with tea for more relaxed moments. Hot chocolate was for children. Not that Mokuba was all that enamored of the sweet treat either. His brother was cheerfully enjoying a cup of coffee for himself as he made plans to go skiing later.

"What are you going to do, big brother?" Mokuba asked, scribbling a note to himself to throw snowballs at unsuspecting other guests as soon as their backs were turned.

"Relax." Kaiba seldom said that word, much less in relation to himself. He thoroughly enjoyed running KaibaCorp but the yearly vacation he and Mokuba took had one rule that he stuck to like glue. He didn't do any work. He would take the occasional phone call if it was a matter of life and death, but that was his limit.

Mokuba grinned at that. "What are you going to do to relax, then?" He liked being able to pin down his brother, and suspected at times that Seto would reply in certain ways just so he _could_ be pinned down.

"Improve my deck." There weren't any duelists here who were worth his time, but he had another duel arranged with Yuugi next month, and he was going to be ready for it. It wasn't the burning obsession that it had been seven years ago, but had mellowed into something more akin to a friendly rivalry.

Not that Seto would have actually called it that.

"That's right, there's a card shop here." That didn't at all surprise Mokuba. Anywhere duelists gathered, and that was almost anywhere, was a good place to set up a kiosk for cards and duel disks.

"I doubt I'll find anything worth looking at. But it should kill time." Not to mention it could also help him find new talent for many of his other projects. In Kaiba's mind, 'not working' didn't include happening to find someone who knew their way around a deck.

Mokuba nodded and checked over his list, mischief gleaming in his eyes. Kaiba suspected that before too long there would be annoyed people all because of Mokuba. That was fine with him. Annoying people was a Kaiba tradition.

"All right, I'm off. I'll be back later." He tapped the communicator on his collar before Seto could utter a word. "If I need anything, I'll let you know."

Seto nodded; vacation or not, he wasn't going to let his brother be out of touch. He was still a Kaiba, and that meant that their lives were lives of danger.

The card shop was only one corridor and half a dozen steps away from where he sat now. When he entered, there were only two other people there, the clerk behind the desk and a woman with his back to him as she searched through a stack of single cards. Something else caught his eye as he marked them both as 'harmless, possibly annoying' on his mental list.

_They've had a tournament here?_ He skimmed the names listed; it had been a few weeks earlier, so the participants were likely enough not even there anymore, but his interest was caught nevertheless. _The winner was Manjoume Jun of the Manjoume Group._ He'd heard the name before; the Manjoumes were very influential in politics and finance already. The youngest son was due to enter Duel Academia soon. He would have to keep an eye on them.

"Kaiba Seto?" At first, Kaiba didn't recognize the voice. It had been several years since he'd heard it last, after all. Then it sank a bit more fully into his mind, and he turned to look at the woman who had been searching through the single cards.

"Isis Ishtar." His tone was a bit flat and tinged for a moment with annoyance. She wasn't one of his favorite people. Of course he had very few who could be claimed to _be_ favorite people in the first place.

Isis hadn't changed much in the last few years. She wore clothes more suited to the resort's mountain location than to her native Egypt, but her hair was still long and black and her eyes were still that warm shade of brown. Her lips curved up into a welcoming smile as she looked at him.

"I wasn't aware that you were here," he said. She wasn't at his level of dueling, but she was a little closer to it than most of the other people here. That was, of course, assuming that she'd given up that ridiculous dependence on telling the future to duel. He would prefer to test her skills when she had no more idea than he did of what might happen next.

"Nor was I aware that you were here. A happy coincidence, then?" Isis raised one eyebrow for a moment, but Seto didn't reply to it. "And what brings you to this place?"

"What brings anyone to a ski resort? Mokuba and I are on vacation." The words tasted odd on his tongue, but they were true nevertheless. "I wasn't aware you chose to vacation in Japan, however."

Isis shrugged. "Malik wanted a ski vacation, and he's earned it." Pride gleamed in her eyes for a moment. "He's recently graduated college."

Seto didn't have very fond memories of his encounters with Malik Ishtar, but he did at least respect the devotion the Ishtars had to one another. It mirrored what he and Mokuba had between them, after all. "Congratulations. Where is he?" Speaking with Isis he could tolerate for a time. Having to be polite to her brother would stretch what patience he had.

"Off making snowballs. I think he plans to throw them at people when they aren't looking." Isis's lips twitched for a brief moment, as did Seto's. Somewhere out there, he didn't doubt, someone was or would be soon be being pelted by two sets of snowballs.

"Mokuba had the same idea." He could see that the same thought that had crossed his mind now went through hers, and she smiled even more. He glanced behind her to the boxes of cards. "Was there anything worth looking at in there?" He would check himself, but her opinion was almost worth having. It might save him some time at least.

"A few that you might like, but nothing that I found useful." Isis gestured over to the boxes. "Do feel free to judge for yourself."

Seto stepped right over there and began to sort through the cards with practiced ease. Most of his mind diverted itself to that task, with only a few thoughts spared to deal with Isis's presence and the Ishtars' very existence in his treasured time away from work.

It would be impossible to avoid them. By virtue just of knowing him, they were a little more palatable to spend time with than people who would attempt to annoy him in every little way. Isis had annoyed him by her predictions of the future and Malik had annoyed him by his attempts to take the God Cards. Since neither of them were doing that at the moment, he believed he could deal with their presence for the moment.

When he had finished searching through the cards, he'd found only two that could have been even remotely useful in his deck. Buying a few booster packs would increase his chances of getting cards he could use, but he found that he wasn't in the mood to stare at a dozen or so cards that he knew a hundred ways to crush.

Isis was still there, he noted, as he paid for them. She stood behind him at the counter, booster packs in her hands. "You still duel?" He asked, a small scrap of curiosity nudging at him.

"Yes. It is in the family line, and old habits die hard regardless." He stepped to the side and she placed a dozen packs on the counter. "Some of these are for Malik."

Of course he still dueled. _I'll have to duel him._ Malik was a very good duelist, as he would have to be in order to reach the finals of Battle City. Kaiba wanted to test his mettle when the time came.

That time wasn't now, however. Dueling for amusement was permissible during this time. Dueling for any other reason wasn't. He had made his own rules and he wouldn't break them.

"Seto," Isis spoke as the two of them stepped out of the card shop. She was one of the few who had ever called him by his given name, and he didn't protest it. Her culture was different, after all, and she still gave him the full measure of respect in her voice. "Would you care to go for a walk?"

He shot a glance down at her. "What?" No one had ever asked him for something like that. No one who wasn't Mokuba, and she was clearly not him.

"I asked, would you care to go for a walk? It's very clear out there, and I would like to get some fresh air."

"So? You don't need me to do that." Kaiba frowned even more. Did she have some kind of ulterior motive? Granted, that wouldn't be like her at all, but stranger events had occurred. He could think of several offhand.

Her lips curved just a bit more into a wider smile. "No, I don't. But I would like to continue our conversation, and that would be difficult if I were outside and you weren't."

She had a point there. Though he wasn't certain what was so fascinating about small talk that she would like to continue it. Nevertheless, it wouldn't inconvenience him to do so. The artificially warmed air indoors tasted a little flat, and he hadn't spent as much time outside as he usually did when they came on their trips. "Very well."

They stopped to put on coats and warmer boots before they stepped outside, their breath puffing out before them as soon as they did so. Kaiba breathed in deep breaths, the chill pricking at his lungs. He picked out a random trail to walk along, one that led higher up through the trees and along a ridge. It was one of his favorite walks; the view was spectacular once one reached the top, and there was a hint or two of danger along the way that appealed to him. Danger was the spice of life. How did you know if you'd lived if you didn't court death?

"Malik and I would both like to duel you, if you are willing," Isis said as she picked her way through the snowdrifts. "Not for any revenge or any such petty reason." She looked at him as she spoke and could see the look in his eyes. They wouldn't be the first people that he'd defeated begging him for rematches. "But because you are a fine duelist, and it would be a pleasure to learn more from you."

Kaiba's lips twisted into an amused smirk. "I'll see if I can make arrangements." Indeed, he couldn't duel for revenge, but for entertainment...defeating them both, perhaps even at the same time, _would_ be entertaining for him, and perhaps even for the resort's duelist population.

"I look forward to it. I'm certain my brother does as well." Isis nodded, her own smile a touch softer. She was quiet for a few moments as they walked. Seto didn't know what thoughts went through her mind, nor would he have wanted to know if he could have. Minds were private.

Seto was about to say something when a very familiar ring tone sounded from his inner coat pocket. He growled, but didn't stop walking as he reached to get the phone, gesturing to Isis to be quiet as he took the call. He knew this area quite well and didn't have to pay that much attention to what he was doing.

"This had better be important." Kaiba bit the words out. They were much nearer to the top than he'd thought, and this was where the trail could get a little icy. He still didn't pay that much attention. He'd walked this way many a time, after all.

"Kaiba-sama." One of his vice-presidents was on the line. "There is a new company that we've made contact with. The president wishes to arrange a meeting with you soon. We tried to inform her that you're on vacation, but she didn't want to listen."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Tell her that I'm not interested in meeting with someone who can't listen to simple instructions. If she can't wait until I return next week, then we can live without her business." If whatever her company sold was that important to him, then he could buy her out and have it that way.

He was just about to close the phone and end the call when his foot came down on a slick patch of ice only partly covered by snow. His shoe slid along it far too fast, and his attention shifted from his phone call to the much more important business of standing upright. Isis reached for him, but her hands slid through his, and he lost his grip both on the phone and on gravity itself.

The phone arced in a graceful line over the edge of the ridge, and Kaiba himself slid over as well, scrambling for a foot or handhold. He just managed to grip onto a well-rooted bush, but there was nothing but empty air beneath his feet.

"Kaiba!" Isis dropped down to her knees in front of him. "Take my hand!" She reached out for him, stretching as much as she could to be able to be in range.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaiba glared at her. If she had any sense, she would either go for help or produce a phone of her own and call for it.

"Helping you." Isis replied, her voice dry and with a brief hint of amusement. "Take my hand, Kaiba. You're not going to die here."

Of course he wasn't. That was one of the most ridiculous statements that he'd heard in his life. But he wasn't going to tell her that. He raised one eyebrow as he stared up at her. At the same time, he attempted to get his feet set on something solid. The sides of the mountain were too slick for him to brace there, so his only real hope was to have someone pull him up, at least in the absence of a helicopter. "Is that another of your predictions, Isis? I thought you were beyond those."

Her smile was beautiful, far more so than he'd thought before. "No. I know you won't die here because I know you. Take my hand."

She had a point there. He wasn't going to die here because he was Kaiba Seto and when death came for him, he was going to fight it every step of the way. Courting death didn't mean going eagerly to death's bed. He freed one hand from the bush and reached up for hers. She had to reach down farther, her own free hand wrapped around a sturdy tree. She braced her feet as he wrapped his hand around her wrist and hauled backward, showing far more strength than he would have ever imagined was in her body.

He inched up the edge of the ridge, and his flailing feet found a little purchase that he hadn't thought was there in the first place. That gave him better balance, and he pushed himself upward.

"Sister!" Malik was there, and Mokuba was behind him. Seto lost track of everything that was going on and focused on making his way up to safety. At last, he lay on his stomach, panting for a few moments before he sat up and started to brush himself off.

"Are you all right, big brother?" Mokuba eyed him in concern and Seto nodded to reassure him.

"I lost my phone." That was the most annoying part of this whole mini-adventure. "I'll have to go get it." Getting down there would be difficult, but once he retrieved his laptop, he would be able to find the phone. It was KaibaCorp technology, which meant his satellites would track it.

But there was something else to do first. He turned to Isis. "Thank you." Those were words he seldom spoke, but they were well earned in this case.

"You're welcome." She brushed the snow off herself, then smiled, one eyebrow lifted. "You're going to find your phone?"

"Yes." Seto started down the slope, Mokuba right beside him. He wasn't surprised at all to find Isis on his other side, Malik beside her. Seeing her there warmed him inside in a way that he would have found impossible a half-hour earlier. But that was half an hour earlier. His vacation would last for another week.

If so much could change in half an hour, he wondered, what could change in a week?

**The End**


End file.
